1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to closure systems for containers and, more particularly, to systems which can dispense a metered amount of material or product from a container, and which can be substituted for the nondispensing closure normally used with the container if sold as a separate product.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Dispensers for a measured amount of granular or particulate materials such as sugar, coffee, tea and the like are old and well known. It is also known to be old in the art to provide a measuring dispenser which is attachable to the neck of a jar or container in which the dispensing means is cooperatively mounted on and carried by a screw-on cap such as is used on the neck of a jar.
Many of these devices include a cylindrical body having one end threaded for connection to the mouth of a standard size jar or container so as to be readily attachable to the container holding the product to be ejected. However, such previously known dispenser cap devices are typically of complicated constructions having many working parts and are expensive to produce and assemble. Such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,904,230, 3,129,853, and 3,327,905.
Other devices have attempted to simplify the construction of the metering dispenser system by incorporating a metering spout for discharging a predetermined amount of material. Examples of this dispenser are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,921,862 and 3,985,274. However, in simplifying the construction the precision in metering a desired amount has deteriorated, even though they do have the advantage of using a flow directing spout to discharge materials.
A dispenser cap disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,815 simplifies the construction of the dispensing system, but lacks means for directing the flow of the discharged materials.